I have always said, the very definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. This happens in credit and collections more than you might think -- because we run on a monthly billing cycle or a monthly revenue cycle, and most credit and collection departments run on repetition, not innovation.
At our company, because we try to use Agile Management, our natural sprint or milestone is the end of the month. So, typically, the first Friday of the following month, we have a company wide meeting, involving everyone in all our branch offices across Canada and the US and review how the previous month went.
What Went Right
What Went Right
This is the point we are looking to celebrate our wins -- did a new client come on? Did someone try a new process that improved things? Did we hit our recovery and revenue goals? Did we get an influx of positive Google Business reviews from consumers? All of these and more are things that went right. Often we have team members reporting back things that were successful for them, and we can lean into those ideas, or celebrate our team members as individuals.
It's important to shine a spotlight on what went right, to replicate it or expand it in the months to come, and for morale and teamwork.
What Went Wrong
Things are going to go wrong -- clients that aren't a good fit for the company, a surge of absenteeism, software being glitchy or not meeting the needs of today. This is the time to call these out -- and fix them if possible, or explain why we can't. This isn't a venting session, it's for high level problems. And if one person brings up 'hey, X isn't working' and five other people across the other branches say 'yeah, that's terrible!', you know it's time to make changes.
And if you make changes, everyone feels heard. And again, that doesn't hurt for morale and teamwork.
Our 'what went wrong' sessions have created new texting strategies, have lead to revising our work from home policies, and has caused us to part ways with clients that weren't a good fit. It's not all bad news to look at what has gone wrong.
What Can We Do Better?
It's important to shine a spotlight on what went right, to replicate it or expand it in the months to come, and for morale and teamwork.
What Went Wrong
Things are going to go wrong -- clients that aren't a good fit for the company, a surge of absenteeism, software being glitchy or not meeting the needs of today. This is the time to call these out -- and fix them if possible, or explain why we can't. This isn't a venting session, it's for high level problems. And if one person brings up 'hey, X isn't working' and five other people across the other branches say 'yeah, that's terrible!', you know it's time to make changes.
And if you make changes, everyone feels heard. And again, that doesn't hurt for morale and teamwork.
Our 'what went wrong' sessions have created new texting strategies, have lead to revising our work from home policies, and has caused us to part ways with clients that weren't a good fit. It's not all bad news to look at what has gone wrong.
What Can We Do Better?
This is the short term, 1-3 month roadmap and ideas that team members have for making changes, or things that are a bit wobbly we want to keep an eye on, or clients that are onboarding and making a plan for how to launch them. This is probably the biggest part of our meeting, which is a good thing.
By keeping a hit list of what we can do better, it helps keep us all accountable. If we promised Client X would go to team member Y when they land, we remember that. If team member Z was supposed to build a new report and share it with everyone, it doesn't get forgotten (but it may get triaged to being done later ... but stays on the hit list).
Everyone gets a say in our company -- everyone gets to steer the company ship. This is the most important thing we can do so we don't end up with a handful of people being armchair generals making decisions that sound good theoretically on paper, but would be a nightmare to implement. We use this as a sounding board and brainstorming session all at once.
... And Then What?
By keeping a hit list of what we can do better, it helps keep us all accountable. If we promised Client X would go to team member Y when they land, we remember that. If team member Z was supposed to build a new report and share it with everyone, it doesn't get forgotten (but it may get triaged to being done later ... but stays on the hit list).
Everyone gets a say in our company -- everyone gets to steer the company ship. This is the most important thing we can do so we don't end up with a handful of people being armchair generals making decisions that sound good theoretically on paper, but would be a nightmare to implement. We use this as a sounding board and brainstorming session all at once.
... And Then What?
We send out the meeting notes to everyone, log it in our SOC-2 task platform, and check in with people through the month on these high level issues.
Because if we don't fix the things that don't work well, and we don't adapt to new clients, and new industry trends ... well, the definition of insanity ...
Conclusion
I'm a huge fan of Agile Management as a way to decentralize decision making and engage everyone in the company. Here's a link to an article I wrote when we first started adopting it back in 2014 ... and it's working for us ...
Got questions about how to engage your team members, or want to make changes at your company? Drop me a note at blair@receivableaccounts.com.
Thanks kindly,
Blair DeMarco-Wettlaufer
Because if we don't fix the things that don't work well, and we don't adapt to new clients, and new industry trends ... well, the definition of insanity ...
Conclusion
I'm a huge fan of Agile Management as a way to decentralize decision making and engage everyone in the company. Here's a link to an article I wrote when we first started adopting it back in 2014 ... and it's working for us ...
Got questions about how to engage your team members, or want to make changes at your company? Drop me a note at blair@receivableaccounts.com.
Thanks kindly,
Blair DeMarco-Wettlaufer
KINGSTON Data & Credit
226-946-1730
